Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile, by Verlyn Klinkenborg (really!), is told from the perspective of another real-life nineteenth-century tortoise misidentified as male; this one was actually brought back to London, where she lived for not quite a century. The book is elegant, meditative, and a tiny bit boring.

Welcome– sorry about messing up the first posting- i forgot to edit it and tighten it up and when i tried to back up and redo it i ended up reposting the whole thing again! arrgghh—-
but your all welcome- It is a fascinating story